An invitation to all sports fans out there: abandon your senseless distaste for Barry Bonds. Loosen up, sit back and enjoy one of the greatest stars of our era, before you miss the show.

Bonds continues to prove himself as the best player in the game today and is emerging as one of the best to ever play. The guy has been unreal — performing like a Hollywood action hero — opposing only his own legend and defying all logic.

Fans turned off by Bonds claim that they “hate Bonds” because of his “unpleasant personality” — a title given to him by the media. While many players assume a phony persona to appease fans and media, a guy like Bonds disregards any sort of need to be a fake.

Even some Giants’ fans pay heed to what the media tells them, and they too decide to hate Bonds. These same fans, however, still cheered the Giants all the way to Game 7 of the World Series last year. Here’s another hint to the ignorant: No Barry means no postseason. I hope these fans go away come October.

Bonds vs. Ruth?

Bonds plays in a league filled with African-Americans, Latinos, international players, relief specialists and night games. “The Babe” didn’t. Imagine placing Bonds within Ruth’s era and vice versa. Bonds would simply obliterate the competition, while an out- of-shape Ruth would struggle to hit a .250 average with 20 home runs. Even as a pitcher, Ruth would fail to blow it by today’s beefed up and quicker hitters.

Even now, with everyone comparing Bonds up against the legend of Ruth, there are still people who think Albert Pujols is the National League Most Valuable Player? Bonds is playing for the better team and is the driving reason behind his team’s success. Pujols hits in a lineup full of great hitters who offer him protection and in a NL Central Division filled with weaker pitchers. Bonds isn’t being pitched to, and when he is it’s in situations where he can’t drive in runners. The categories in which Pujols leads the league are mainly those aided by the players hitting around him.

To lead the league in RBIs a hitter must consistently have runners on base when they come to bat. To lead the league in runs, they need to have good hitters batting behind them. Luck then becomes a large element of the RBI and run, because it is based partly on the achievements of others. At press time Pujols had a .384 average (43 hits in 112 at bats) with runners in scoring position, while Bonds was batting .354 (23 hits in 65 at bats — two hits away from a higher average than Pujols).

Two statistics that come down to a single players performance are on-base percentage and slugging percentage — Bonds leads the league in both statistical categories. Replace both these players in their respective team’s lineups and Bonds’ numbers become beyond scary. Barry is your MVP.Giants’ fans and sports’ fans in general may never realize what they have until Bonds is no longer playing, so the best thing we can do is take it all in — one feat at a time.

What else is bugging me…

The Kings made an effort at improving this off-season, but ended up being pushed even further back in the Western Conference. The Lakers added Gary Payton and Karl Malone, the Mavericks added Antawn Jamison and Danny Fortson, the Timberwolves added Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell and Michael Olowokandi and the defending champion Spurs added Radoslav Nesterovic, Hedo Turkoglu, Ron Mercer and Robert Horry. The Kings only solid move was attaining center Brad Miller. Expect another flop in the playoffs from the fifth best team in the West…

The Oakland Athletics are in the middle of a dog fight with both the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox. Don’t let their recent succcess fool you, with the loss of ace-pitcher Mark Mulder and their inconsistent offense, the A’s will have trouble keeping pace with either club.

After the Patriots demonstrated to the rest of the NFL the formula to defeat the St. Louis Rams in the 2001 Super Bowl, the Rams fell to a very disappointing 7-9 record in 2002. If this is any indication of how fast today’s NFL can transform or how quickly teams can make adjustments, then the 2003 Raiders are in trouble. Aging quarterback Rich Gannon will need help from his fellow veterans, in addition to emerging stud receiver Jerry Porter, if the Raiders have a shot at defending their AFC title…

Two of the league’s promising young quarterbacks, Michael Vick and Chad Pennington, both went down during the NFL’s exhausting four-game preseason. If the NFL needs the money brought in by these games, then at least make them count and add a game or two to the regular season schedule. These exhibition games are boring. Coaches hold back, not wanting to reveal their offensive or defensive schemes, and the starters play only one or two series anyway. I can’t watch Vick for the first half of the season and that makes me sad…

Agree, disagree, or just want to discuss Michael Vick’s 95 speed rating in Madden 2004?

E-mail Jimmy and your comments could be seen in his next column.